Five storylines to watch in IHSA girls basketball playoffs
The best part of the high school basketball season is here.
Starting this week with the girls and following next week with the boys, the IHSA's original March Madness promises to bring more thrills, magical moments and lifetime memories for players, coaches and fans throughout the suburbs.
Here's five things to watch at Thursday and Friday night's girls basketball regional championship games.
Class 4A Lake Zurich regional
Stevenson is the defending Class 4A state champion and features junior post Emory Klatt, who basically has a double-double walking off the bus. Klass recorded one in all but four of the Patriots' regular season games and averages 19.2 points and 12.5 rebounds a game. The 22-11 Patriots enter as the 5 seed to Lake Zurich's 4 in Thursday night's final, but the 24-7 Bears have unfortunately been one of the unluckiest teams around with a slew of injuries including a knee injury to Avery Cooper. The teams split their two regular season games, Lake Zurich winning the first, 37-34, and losing the second, 46-35.
Class 4A Downers Grove South regional
A good tip for regional finals - find those 4 vs. 5 seed matchups. Here's another. While most of the regional semifinals earlier this week ended up in lopsided matchups, both No. 4 seed Neuqua Valley (18-10) and No. 5 Downers Grove North (21-8) had to work to get here; the DVC champion Wildcats winning 56-50 over Oswego East and the Trojans 58-50 over Downers Grove South.
And speaking of the DuPage Valley, we'll go with 700-win coach Andy Nussbaum's No. 7 Naperville Central Redhawks over No. 3 Plainfield East as the upset to watch Thursday. Central freshman Trinity Jones is drawing the kinds of comparisons you never thought you would see coming from the school that produced Candace Parker.
Class 4A Hersey regional
Another matchup of Daily Herald Top 20 teams like Stevenson and Lake Zurich, sixth-seed Prospect (23-9) will try to upset No. 3 Hersey (24-8) on the Huskies' home court. The teams split two entertaining regular season games, Hersey taking the first, 58-51, and Prospect the second, 56-52.
Class 3A Vernon Hills regional
While the majority of schools in the Daily Herald coverage area are in the 4A tournament, there's plenty of 3A teams to follow plus a few 2A. The 3A field includes at Vernon Hills where the 20-10 Cougars play St. Viator for a regional title. Montini is another 3A school to watch, taking on Glenbard South in a regional final, as is defending 3A state champion Carmel who plays Crystal Lake Central for the Woodstock North crown.
Looking ahead
As fun as the regional championship games promise to be, the action will really pick up next week at sectionals. In 4A, Glenbard West, Highland Park, New Trier and West Aurora are hosting sectionals, as is Glenbard South and Deerfield in 3A. There's a good chance the Glenbard West sectional turns into a de facto DuKane Conference tournament between Geneva, St. Charles North, Batavia and either Lake Park or one of the few regional surprises so far, No. 12 seed Wheaton Warrenville South in the last year for coach Rob Kroehnke - one of the very good guys in high school sports.
The Highland Park sectional will be one to watch for sure. There should be four of the top 12 teams in the Daily Herald's final regular season Top 20, including No. 1 Fremd. The deep and talented Vikings look primed to add to their state hardware that includes the 2020 state title and runner-up finishes in 2015 and 2016.
Sectional semifinals will be played Tuesday, with the winners advancing to the sectional championship games Thursday, Feb. 23. Supersectionals will be played Monday, Feb. 27, and the state tournament returns to Redbird Arena in Bloomington March 3-4.